github darrylmorley/whatcable v1.5.0-beta.5
v1.5.0-beta.5: Daisy chains sorted, cards that sit still, and straighter talk about e-markers

pre-release5 hours ago

Daisy chains sorted, cards that sit still, and straighter talk about e-markers

A busy cycle, and most of it started with a tester's report. Credits inline.

Devices behind a TB5 dock now show under the dock. On a Thunderbolt 5
daisy chain (Mac to display to dock), macOS lumps every box's USB traffic
onto one controller and gives each box an anonymous internal hub, so a drive
in the dock rendered under the display. WhatCable now works out which hub
belongs to which box from the fabric's own routing data, checks the answer
against the controller's port map, and only applies it when everything
matches one to one. If anything looks off it leaves the tree alone rather
than guessing. Verified on the exact rig that showed the bug.

The popout follows the icon. Rearranging the menu bar used to leave the
open popout anchored where the icon had been. Reported by @maelcum (#543),
who stuck with it through several earlier attempts.

Port cards hold still. When power-source attribution flickered, cards
reshuffled mid-read. Order is now stable, and an unplugged charger's card
lingers faded for a few seconds instead of vanishing under your cursor.
Report by @miketuckman (#536). This is the visual half: the underlying
attribution flicker is still under investigation, captures welcome.

Plugging in a dock posts one notification. Disconnect was grouped in
beta.4, connect now matches: one notification naming the dock, every device
on its own row. Report, testing and the Notification Centre detective work by
@official-Cromatin (#556).

Straighter e-marker wording. "Every USB-C cable's e-marker can be read"
was too confident. Some chargers and docks block the read, so the wording now
says so and names the likely culprits. Built on a three-case test matrix and
suggested wording from @jimmyorz (#413), with related diagnosis from
@cannotcollide on #554, Power-Z meter in hand. Cables with no e-marker at all
now also state the practical consequence: capped at 3A, 60W. Suggested by
@spreiter.

Cables with blank or partial e-marker IDs are now trackable. Cable
tracking keyed on vendor and product IDs, which some perfectly real cables
leave at zero, so they could never be saved. Tracking now uses the full
e-marker identity, existing saved cables migrate automatically, and the
wording is honest about how confident each match is. Reported by
@EmilEmilchen (#530) and a Pro user's support report.

Beta builds default to beta updates. If you are running a beta, "Include
beta versions" now starts switched on, once, and never overrides a choice you
have made yourself. @aldobalducci and @official-Cromatin both tripped over
the old default in beta.4.

Translations. Italian refinements from @bovirus, Traditional Chinese
refinements from @jimmyorz, including his review of the strings added this
cycle.

The one to lean on: if you have a Thunderbolt daisy chain, open Connected
devices and check every device sits under the box it is actually plugged
into.

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